


Blessings

by desperationandgin



Category: Outlander (TV), Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon
Genre: Canon Divergent, F/M, bye roger
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-04
Updated: 2019-12-04
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:41:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21672385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/desperationandgin/pseuds/desperationandgin
Summary: Jamie and Claire's first night back at River Run.
Relationships: Claire Beauchamp/Jamie Fraser
Comments: 30
Kudos: 130





	Blessings

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Roger didn't show up at River Run for this fic, and that's all you need to know :)

I woke because of the absence of Jamie to nestle myself against, missing the warmth his body provided beneath the quilts. Opening my eyes, I raised myself enough to peer into the darkness of our room in River Run, realizing a single candle was lit on the small table across the room. Squinting, I could just barely make out the form of Jamie in the oversized armchair, the soft lilt of his voice floating to my ears. Once my eyes adjusted to the dim lighting I was frozen in place, unable to move as everything came into focus and I could see precisely what Jamie was doing.

Shirtless but in trousers, he sat with a bit of a slouch, large hands cradling his sleeping grandson against his chest. He was speaking quietly in Gaelic, thumb stroking the back of that tiny head slowly, back and forth in a hypnotizing rhythm. Unbidden, tears filled my eyes as I watched, feeling like an intruder with my own husband, to watch him cradle his grandson in a way he never had the chance to hold either of his daughters. In the same beat, my heart wanted to shatter and soar. I never intended to break the spell of the moment, but my creaking joints gave me away as my elbow cracked with a soft _pop_. I could see Jamie’s head raise from where his lips had been grazing soft peach fuzz.

“Sassenach?”

His voice was such a low register that it sent an involuntarily shiver down my spine. “I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

I watched him stand and make his way to the bed, carefully re-joining me. “His cries’ woke me, so I offered to take him after Brianna finished tending to him.”

That had most certainly consisted of nursing and changing the cloth diaper, and I reached out, lightly stroking the round apple of the baby’s cheek. “He looks just like she did, you know,” I whispered, feeling an odd tightening of my throat.

“I remember. From the photographs, ye ken,” Jamie agreed with me quietly.

Another pang of sadness struck me then; photographs lost to the sea after the shipwreck. I couldn’t be sure why the realization made my tears break the waterline as I spoke.

“I haven’t seen you hold a child this way in a long time. Not since we returned to Lallybroch after France,” I whispered. How many times had I watched him cradling his new niece only to press my hand against a flat stomach and feel nothing but bitter anger and grief?

“Never thought I would have the chance to hold a part of myself so close,” he murmured in the dark, looking over at me, his own eyes shining. “We’re home now, Sassenach. Close to it. Our daughter and our grandson.”

“Are you happy, Jamie?”

The question came from nowhere; unsure why I asked other than a desperate need to hear him say everything would be alright. As I watched his face split into an easy grin, one hand moved from the baby’s back to my cheek.

“Oh, aye, Sassenach. Verra. I’ll be happier still once we make it back to the Ridge and we can help our daughter raise her son. Together.”

The thought of it, Jamie with a grandson, being chased after by toddling legs in a couple year’s time, made my smile match his. I knew then that the worst was behind us.

We were going home. Together.


End file.
